Is sediment a sign that a wine is good?
Hello there! I'm Dr. Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the fine points of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don't worry, I'm no wine snob—you can also ask me those "dumb questions" you're too embarrased to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering and even amusing. And don't forget to check out my most asked questions and my full archives for all my Q&A classics.
Dear Dr. Vinny,
Are dregs a sign of a good wine?
—Wade, Ferndale, Calif.
Dear Wade,
Typically, when people talk about the “dregs” of a wine, they’re referring to the solids leftover from winemaking. That solid material is also called “lees” and usually falls to the bottom of a barrel or tank as wine ages.
But I suspect you’re asking about sediment, which is the solid material left at the bottom of an older bottle of wine. You might also see some bits of sediment in your glass, especially if the wine wasn’t decanted before being poured. (Check out our Guide to Decanting for tips on how and when to do it!)
Both lees and sediment are made of inactive or dead yeast cells and pieces of grape seeds, skins, stems and any other solids that are leftover when grapes are crushed and fermented. Many wines are fined and filtered to remove these solids, and some winemakers also rack their wines off the lees, sometimes many times during aging. But some winemakers prefer to bottle wines without these processes.
As wine ages, phenolic compounds (including tannins, pigment molecules and other polyphenols) break down and precipitate, which creates additional sediment. That sediment is perfectly safe to drink, but it can have an unpleasant texture. That’s why many people will decant older wines to separate the liquid from the solids.
Is sediment an indicator of quality? No, it’s not. Some wines just have more sediment than others because of the grapes that were used, how the wine was made and how old the wine is. All the decisions a winemaker makes to limit (or not) the possibility of sediment are simply stylistic choices. The only reliable way to assess the quality of a wine is—you guessed it—to taste it. Cheers!
—Dr. Vinny
